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Startup Launch

Startup Launch provides students the funding, coaching and legal services to launch their startups and take their products to market. It's a 12-week intensive student-focused program for student teams to work on their startup ideas. Just like LEARN and MAKE, Startup Launch is led by a specialized team that will coach the student teams. Teams admitted into the program will be eligible for investment funding from a startup investment fund, established and managed outside of Georgia Tech, for this specific purpose.

A major portion of the seed investment fund is anticipated to be spent by the teams on product design, customer discovery, minimum viable product, infrastructure, prototyping, customer validation, market research, travel, customer meetings, online presence and more. Startup Launch is available for all Georgia Tech students, regardless of their year/stage of study.

"With the help of CREATE-X, we’ve been able to raise more than $2 million, landed multiple publicly traded clients, grown our team to four people and were featured in Inc magazine as one of the top 30 emerging startups."

-Sean Henry, CEO, STORD

“CREATE-X focused on customer discovery, that connection with the user. And that’s defined how we started and who we are today as a company.

-Corey Hewett, CEO, Gimme Vending

“In just two months of being in the CX startup program, we’ve already found three potential investors in our product and our team …. It tells us we’re going in the right direction”

Raghupathy Sivakumar is the Wayne J. Holman Chair Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He leads the Georgia Tech Networking and Mobile Computing (GNAN) Research Group, where he and his students do research in the areas of wireless networking and mobile computing. He is the Founding Director of CREATE-X, a Georgia Tech initiative to instill entrepreneurial confidence in its students. Previously, he served as the Co-Founder and CTO for StarMobile, Inc. (now PowWow Mobile) between 2012 and 2016, as a Technologist for EMC Corporation between 2011 and 2012, as the Founder and CTO of Asankya, Inc. (now EMC), between 2004 and 2011, and as a Technologist for EG Technology, Inc. (now Arris), between 2001 and 2004. Professor Sivakumar received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000 and 1998 respectively, and his B.E. degree in Computer Science from Anna University (Chennai) in 1996. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the recipient of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (2016), and the Georgia Tech Research Innovation Award (2015). He routinely serves on the program committees of several IEEE and ACM conferences and serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.

Greg Foster

Associate Director, LAUNCH

Greg received his bachelor’s degree, Magna Cum Laude, in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1995, and he earned his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1999. Greg has most recently served as CEO of Experience, LLC, a division of Cox Enterprises. He retired from Cox in December and continues to serve on the board of Experience. He has served as an investor and advisor to The Onion (sold to Univision), Automated Insights (sold to Vista Equity Partners) and SolidFire (sold to NetApp). Upon graduating from Tech, he worked at Deloitte Consulting, focusing on strategy development for clients. After business school, Greg began his career as an entrepreneur, working with companies such as iXL, Silverpop, Turner and Noro-Moseley. Foster established another company, BrightWhistle, and sold it to Silicon Valley-based private equity firm Silverlake Partners in 2015. While at Tech, Greg was involved in many groups including student government, ANAK, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and he was named Mr. Georgia Tech. Greg has served on the boards of The Georgia Tech Alumni Association and currently serves on the advisory boards of the School of Mechanical Engineering and the College of Engineering.

Dr. Rhea Perkins

Program & Operations Manager

Rhea Perkins serves as the Program and Operations Manager for CREATE-X. She is excited about entrepreneurship and enjoys helping students view starting a business as a viable career option. Rhea is currently a GT Diversity and Inclusion Fellow and teaches an Innovation section of GT 1000. Prior to Georgia Tech, Rhea attended Arizona State University where she received her BS degree, fell in love with Miami while completing her MS degree at Florida International University, and learned to eat crawfish while at Louisiana State University pursuing her PhD degree. Rhea absolutely loves Atlanta and enjoys the beltline, yoga, and trying new local restaurants!